Reverse Psychology
by zlinka
Summary: What's Ranma to do when Akane's acting nice and Shampoo is smacking him around? An what is Mouse up to? Find out.
1. Chapter 1

Nekohaten 12:00AM-

Both Shampoo and Mouse were getting ready for bed, in their separate rooms. When they had the same genius idea. Reverse psychology.

True, the goals of the idea were different as were the methods to achieve their goals, but it was the same basic principle. Of course neither Amazon warrior was going to tell the other about their genius plan, knowing that the only way it will work is if the other doesn't know about it.

'Tomorrow,' they each thought as they snuggled down and dreamed happy dreams of being with their loves.

Tendo residence 6:00AM- Akane's P.O.V.

For Akane the day started the same way that most of her days started lately. She woke up before her alarm clock, a.k.a. Ranma's daily butt kicking session with his father, started. This was a more recent habit, that she had started after the two teens returned from Jusenkyou. She liked leaving for her morning jog before Mr. Saotome became a panda. She did this to avoid the confrontation that usually followed; lately it had been to stressful for her to deal with.

As Akane tied her jogging shoes on she noticed a folded piece of paper with her name on just sitting in the entrance hall. Curious, she opened it

Dear Akane,

Lately I have noticed your attempts to keep the peace in this house by avoiding conflicts with Ranma. I and the rest of the family, I'm sure, appreciate the gesture and feel that now would be the perfect time to take it to the next step. I request that you stop avoiding Ranma and just not use your mallet. I know this will be difficult for you, but consider that by avoiding Ranma you are actually doing more harm to your relationship. Also, I only request that you do this for a week, kind of like a test. If you won't do it for your relationship with Ranma, do it for me. Ranma's birthday is in a few days, and I don't want there to be any more damage to the house until the party.

Love,

Kasumi

P.S. I would appreciate this if you would keep this quiet from Ranma. He doesn't know about the party.

Akane folded the paper up and slipped it into her sports bra. 'At least I know it'll remain a secret from Ranma there,' she thought , only slightly bitter over her fiancé's sometimes overly impressive bust.

She started her run, knowing that this would probably be the only quiet time today to consider her sister's request. It stung a little, 'I haven't malleted him since we got back.' This was mostly because she had been avoiding so as not to mallet him. The longer she ran, the more she realized that Kasumi was right. 'I can't avoid him forever. Even if the avoidance is with the best of intentions.'

Akane perked up at her next thought, 'Besides the more often I use it against him, the better his chances are of learning how to use it.' She giggled to herself at the thought of an invincible mallet wielding hentai-hating Ranma. She could just see him running down the street laughing like Kodachi and shouting the magic words "Insert name no baka/hentai!"

When she returned home she was in the best mood she had been in in a long time. She hummed to herself as she kicked off her shoes and announced her arrival home. She skipped down the hall, to the furo, for a quick spray down before breakfast. In the changing room, she made sure that the furo was empty before she took off her jogging clothes, then grabbing a towel she flung open the door.

Of course Ranma was on the other side of the door, getting out of the tub, all naked and wet and male.

Akane's eyes widened as she took in the sight of him. 'My he's grown,' she thought, trying very hard not to follow a drop of water that was trailing from his muscular chest, to his chiseled abs, and lower with her eyes. She succeeded, but barely.

Neither said anything for a long time. Instead they drank in the sight of each other, wondering when the other would move.

Finally Akane broke the silence, "You might want to hurry Ranma, and we don't want to be late for school." Then, without taking her eyes away from his she stepped backwards and closed the door. Taking a deep breath.

Ranma's P.O.V.

Ranma had just finished tying his father into a knot and slam-dunking him into the koi pond. He was feeling good about himself this morning, until he noticed two things. One: Yet again Akane had left for her run without him and Two: He had magically sprouted breasts.

'Stupid day,' he thought darkly as he made his way to the furo. Even before he reached the changing room, he was slipping his shirt off, so that he could wring it out quickly and take a quick soak before breakfast.

While in the tub, he tried his best not to think about anything, especially Akane, and how she was avoiding him. 'What's up with the tomboy? She's been avoiding me ever sense we go home.' It hurt him a little that she was doing that. Ever sense he had fought Saffron, he wanted to spend as much time with her as possible. He had even tried some of her cooking, just to see her smile. The hour of dry heaving after word wasn't worth it. All it did was prove how desperate he was to make her happy.

On that lack luster note, Ranma noticed that he was pruning up. 'Time for breakfast,' he thought as he stood up. The door opened as he was reaching for his towel. There stood a naked Akane, who was obviously expecting an empty room.

'Damn,' he thought not sure if he meant because his day had just gone from bad to non-existent, or because his mind had suddenly gone blank.

He valiantly tried not to let his gaze slip from her ever-expanding eyes, but there are just some things that are too hard to resist. For some odd reason his mind flashed to the first time she had ever seen him as male. 'She didn't say anything then either!' he panicked. He was quite certain that this was going to be the last time he saw her as ever again. 'She's either going to kill me or dump me!' Both options weren't good.

He was so panicked that he almost missed what she said, "You might want to hurry Ranma, and we don't want to be late for school," before she disappeared behind the door.

'What the hell just happened?' he wondered as he grabbed the towel and wrapped it around his waist.


	2. Chapter 2

Sorry about leaving the disclaimer out last time, so here it is. HA! You can't sue me because I don't own Ranma 1/2 and I admit it! Other then that enjoy.

Furikan High School 11:50AM- Ranma's P.O.V.

Ranma was worried. It was almost time for lunch and nothing bad had happened. Normally he would be celebration such an event, but because of this morning's encounter with Akane, he was on edge.

'She's being too quiet,' he thought, not paying attention to the teacher's lecture. 'She hasn't yelled of hit me with a mallet. Something's wrong!' His mind raced as he imagined many scenarios ranging from her being chronically ill to alien abduction.

Ranma didn't realize that he had been staring unblinkingly at Akane until she turned around with a curious look on her face. He smiled nervously at her then quickly looked away. He pretended to concentrate on the teacher's lecture so that she wouldn't know that he was staring at her, completely ignoring the fact that he had already been busted.

Everybody else followed suit, as it seemed that any drama was going to be delayed.

Ukyo's P.O.V.-

Akane wasn't the only one who had noticed Ranma's odd behavior. Ukyo had turned along with the rest of the class to see what was what. When Ranma tried to hide the fact that he'd been staring at Akane she made a note to herself to corner him. 'Ranma honey tells me everything,' she thought smugly, 'After all I've known him the longest.' Humming softly to herself she went back to half listening to the teacher's lecture as she waited for lunch to start.

When class was excused for lunch, Ranma was the first out of the room. 'Probably headed for the roof,' she thought as she stalked her fiancé through the halls.

"Hey Sugar," she greeted as she spotted the pigtailed boy, "Ready for lunch?" she asked producing her grill.

"Thanks Ucchan," he said grinning.

"So what was all that about?" she asked, flipping the okinomiyaki over.

"What was what about?" he was nervous.

"Who do you think you're fooling Ranchan?" she handed him his lunch, "You're acting like a long tailed cat…"

"C-c-cat? Where?" he panicked.

"In a room full of rocking chairs," she bulldozed her way through the analogy. "Why are you so jumpy?"

He was silent for a while as he chewed his food thoughtfully. 'It must be really bad,' Ukyo thought, 'He only chew his food when he's in trouble.'

He finished the last bite and sighed heavily. "Akane's acting weird." Ukyo just raised an eyebrow at this. "It's true. This morning something happened, and instead of yelling at me or knocking me into the stratosphere with that mallet of hers she just walked away."

"Wow," Ukyo said, knowing how weird that was, "What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything!" he defended, "Besides that's not important."

'Hmmm…' Ukyo thought. 'Must be something big if he doesn't want to tell me.' "So that's it?"

"What do you mean that's it? What if something bad happened?"

"What if she's just trying to be nice? What if it's nothing is wrong? What if you're just over reacting?"

"Yeah, you gotta be right," he said obviously relieved.

Shortly after that the bell rang and the two made their way back to class.

Furikan High 3:00PM Akane's P.O.V.-

Akane finished saying good-bye to her friends when she heard Shampoo's bell ring. She looked worriedly at Ranma as he froze in horror at the sound. She began to take pre-emptive calming breaths. She was taking her promise to Kasumi seriously.

Everybody in the schoolyard watched as the Amazon made a perfect landing with her bike right on top of Ranma's head. Akane could almost feel the mallets handle fit into her hand in anticipation of the demand for a date.

"Oops," Shampoo said as she moved her bike to the side. "Shampoo sorry."

Akane nearly fainted when Shampoo just peddled off on her bike. 'What the hell was that?' Before she could get over the sight of the Chinese girl not molesting Ranma, she heard her name being called.

"Akane Tendo!" Mousse shouted as he wrapped his arms passionately around Ryouga, who just appeared out of nowhere.

"Do I look like Akane san?" he shouted as he tossed the blind martial artist away from him.

"Can I help you with something Mousse?" Akane asked politely.

"Akane Tendo!" he shouted and then wrapped his arms around her, "My love!"

And everybody within hearing range face vaulted, including the retreating Shampoo.


	3. Chapter 3

Here's another chapter and another disclaimer. Enjoy.

Furiken High 3:00PM Akane's P.O.V.

Akane stood there, with the blind martial artist hanging on her like a monkey, in shock at what had just occurred. 'Did Mousse just declare his love for me?' She looked around the schoolyard and saw that everyone was just as shocked as she was.

Finally Shampoo broke the spell. "What stupid Duck Boy say to Kitchen Destroyer?" She asked, gliding onto the scene backward while still on her bike.

"Yeah Mousse!" Ryouga shouted, "What did you just say to Akane san?"

Mousse blinked at the two. "Why, I just told her how I feel about her."

"I forbid it!" came the annoyingly familiar voice of Kuno sempai. "Release my fierce tigress at once! Did you honestly think that I, Tatewaki Kuno, The Blue Thunder of Furiken High, would allow you, a commoner, to defile the fair Akane Tendo?" Thunder rolled and lightning flashed in the background. "Fair Akane Tendo, allow me to defeat this cur and to celebrate my victory over the evil interloper, I shall allow you to date with me."

"You can't defeat me," bragged Mousse, "For I am Mousse, master of the hidden Weapons Technique." And with that, he released Akane and lunged for Kuno.

Akane blinked, still in shock at what happened. 'What just happened?' She was startled out of her thoughts as Shampoo leaned into her.

"I trade you stupid Duck Boy for Airen," she whispered to Akane.

"Huh?" a confused Akane responded.

"It no fair Akane get four boys chasing her," Shampoo pouted. "So, if you give Shampoo Airen, then Akane get Mousse. Good deal?"

"What are you talking about?"

This would have gone on for much longer, if it weren't for the fact that Mousse had won the battle and was quickly making his way back to "his love."

"I am victorious, my love," he shouted as he gathered Akane back into his arms.

This angered Akane. 'What does he think he's doing?' On that thought, she could feel the mallet forming in her hands. "Mousse on Hentai!" She shouted as she swung the giant hammer at him. There was a distinct clang as the mallet made contact with the Amazonian male. Then he was soaring gracefully through the air, in the general direction of the Nekohaten.

Ranma's P.O.V.-

Ranma watched Mousse as he plastered himself all over Akane. He was ticked. 'Who does he think he is grabbing my fiancé like that?' he thought furiously. He was just about to do something about it when Shampoo ran over his toe while making her re-entrance.

"What stupid Duck Boy say to Kitchen Destroyer?" she demanded, sounding both angry and slightly hopeful.

"Yeah Mousse!" Ryouga shouted, "What did you just say to Akane san?" Ryouga just sounded angry. 'Serves him right,' Ranma thought darkly.

Before Ranma could do or say anything, the scene was interrupted by the Blue Blunder himself. He started ranting about honor and defiling Akane. Ranma really wasn't paying attention; he had most of it memorized anyway.

He paid slightly more attention when Mousse launched himself at the kendoist. Soon the fight was over, when Mousse kicked Kuno and sent him flying.

"I am victorious, my love," the idiot declared. Ranma watched in fascination as the mallet just was in Akane's hand. This was the first time that he had ever gotten to see it in use when it wasn't directed at him. "Mousse no Hentai!" She shouted, then sent him home via Akane Air.

'So that's how she does it,' he thought as she followed through with her strike and the mallet disappeared. 'I'll have to test that later.'

Everything was frozen for a second, before it all started up again as if nothing had happened. Stuff like this had happened so often lately, that it was practically an everyday occurrence and was paid no more attention then the weather.

Akane turned away from Shampoo and began stalking towards the house. Ranma followed her quietly. He waited until he was safely perched on the chain link fence before he said anything.

"What was up with Mousse?" He started. Akane didn't answer.

"I mean he has been madly in love with Shampoo sense he got here. What's up with him suddenly grabbin' on to you like that?" Still there was no response.

Ranma could feel the insult coming, and he valiantly tried to keep it at bay. 'I am not going to hurt her feelings,' he thought forcefully to himself. The insult seemed to retreat.

"I mean why would be want to grab an uncute tomboy instead of Shampoo anyway?" His eyes bugged out and he slapped a hand over his mouth, trying futiley to force the words back in. But it was too late.

He saw Akane stiffen her shoulders as she spun around to face him. He watched in horror as her hands began to wrap around a handle that wasn't there. 'This is it,' he thought, 'She's going to kill me and then break off the engagement because I'm an idiot.'

These thoughts passed through his mind as he closed his eyes and braced for impact. After a few seconds when nothing happened, he opened his eyes to see that Akane was no longer in front of him. Instead she was walking quickly away, as though to get as much distance between them as possible.

'Oh Kami!' he thought frantically, 'She must be dieing! That's the second time today!'


	4. Chapter 4

Ucchan's 6:00PM Ukyo's P.O.V.-

Ukyo was busily slathering sauce onto the batter of the latest order of okinomiyaki. Her resturant was full of people in various stages of enjoying her craft. Konatsu was flitting about in his waitressing outfit, practicly waiting on each customer hand and foot. She barely managed to stifle a giggle at a customer that was flirting with "her" outrageously.

While she added toppings to each okinomiyaki her mind drifted back to all that had happened at school. 'Maybe I should help Mousse out, or encourage Akane to go out with him,' she thought idly as she placed the food on a plate for Konatsu to take away.

'No, that didn't work too well with Ryouga,' she thought as she scraped off the grill for the next batch. 'Ranma got in the way and ruined everything.' She frowned slightly as she remembered that day. It was very memorable because that was the day that she had found out about girl-Ranma.

'He was really wierded out about the fact that Akane was being nice,' she giggled at this, 'You would think that it was a sign of the apocolypse or something.' Ukyo never tried to understand the relationship between Ranma and Akane. All she knew was that it was going to stop once Ranchan married Ukyo.

Ukyo smiled in content as she imagined the future. One that included her at the grill while Ranma took care of the children. They would laugh merrily and never ever fight. Mostly Ranma would spend each hour of the day reminding Ukyo of how happy he was that he had married his cute fiancé.

'The only thing left to do is get Akane out of the way. But how?' Ukyo spent the rest of the evening scheming about ways to get her fiancé out of his other engagements so that they could marry and live happily ever after. It wasn't until the last customer left and she flipped the open sign to closed that she came up with the perfect idea. 'Thank you Mousse!'

Tendo dojo 9:00PM Akane's P.O.V.-

Akane was practicing a kata to try and work off some of her frustration. After Ranma had said those things, she had come home and broken a few bricks. That made her feel better, until she had come inside to change before dinner.

It started innocently enough. She and Ranma had decided to do some homework before dinner, so they were sitting in her room by the desk. The only sound in the room had been the scratching of their pencils on paper, until Akane remembered something.

"So," she started innocently, "While Mousse and Kuno were fighting, Shampoo offered me a trade."

"What kind of trade?" he asked not really paying attention.

"She offered me Mousse for you," she said giggling.

Ranma blinked at this. "I thought that she had decided to ignore me for a while," he said.

"What makes you say that?" Akane asked truly concerned.

"Well she was acting the same way she did when she wore that reversing pin thing. Except that she wasn't wearing it today," he explained.

"…How'd you notice that Ranma?" she asked and the tempature in the room dropped several degrees.

Ranma seemed oblivious to the tone of voice she used, "She was actin' weird so I checked to see if she had the pin on. When it wasn't there I thought she had moved on, but now that I know she's still after me, it won't bug me like it did that time."

"So now that you know she's just faking it you won't run off to declare your love for her," she said sarcastically.

Ranma must have sensed that she was annoyed because he changed the subject. "What else did she say?"

"Huh? Oh, nothing much," Akane paused as she replayed the conversation in her head. "Except she said that there were four boys chasing me. I know about Kuno, and now Mousse, but who are the other two?" she asked thoughtfully.

Ranma's eyes widened at this, "You mean you don't know?!?" he sounded as though everyone in the world should know this.

This annoyed Akane, "Know what?"

"How stupid can you get?" he asked, "Ryouga loves you."

"No he doesn't," Akane denied, "We're just friends."

"Seriously Akane. Everybody knows that he loves you!"

Akane just laughed at this, "Could it be that you're just jealous?" This made her feel better about it. Ranma had so many girls after him that it almost wasn't fair. 'Serves him right if he is violent.'

Ranma turned an interesting shade of red and started stuttering, "Wh-what are you talking about?!? Me, jealous of an uncute tomboy like you? You wish!"

Akane saw red. 'Baka!' she thought as she felt the mallet forming in her hand. She took several deep breathes before she said, "You're such a jerk Ranma!"

"Dinner's ready," Kasumi called up from the living room.

Akane glared at Ranma as she left the room, stomping down the hall. All during dinner she made a point of ignoring Ranma, even though he was being extra annoying during dinner. 'Gotta keep that promise to Kasumi.'

The conversation after dinner hadn't helped the situation any better.

"How was school today Akane?" Kasumi asked politely as the family settled in to enjoy the rest of the evening.

"It was pretty good," Akane said non-commitally.

"Pretty good?" Nabiki questioned, "You get yet another admirer and it's only pretty good?"

"Oh?" Kasumi asked innocently, "That sounds like a good day to me. Who is it?"

Akane blushed under the scrutiny. "Oh, Mousse just showed up today and started calling me "his love."" She tried to make it sound like an every day thing, which sense Ranma had showed up, stuff like that had pretty much become an everyday thing anyway.

"Ah-huh, and then he fought Kuno for her love," Nabiki said relishing in this part of the story, "I have a whole new betting pool now." She sounded really happy about this.

"That's nice," Kasumi said, making Akane wonder if her sister had even listened to what Nabiki had said.

"It is a little unfair though," Nabiki said, " Akane gets all the guys, except for the ones who fall for Ranma that is.

"Hey! Can I help it that I am so better built then the tomboy?" Ranma laughed.

Akane could see where the conversation was headed, so she decided to leave before it became too difficult to keep the promise to Kasumi.

"Excuse me," she said politely, making her way back to her room.

"What ya doin' Akane? Runnin' away from the truth?" Ranma taunted.

"Ranma, you jerk!" she shouted, then ran out of the room. She had gone right to her room, changed back into her gi, and then went strait to the dojo, to break some more bricks. She ran out of bricks before she ran out of frustration, so she started working on her katas.

"Stupid Ranma," she muttered darkly after she finished the last kata. She felt a little better, but there was something missing, "Maybe I should take Shampoo up on her offer." She shook her head and wiped off her face as she made her way back into the house.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer, for legal purposes, 'cause I don't own Ranma or the characters. Enjoy.

Furikan High 12:00PM Ranma's P.O.V.-

For lunch, Ranma had once again escaped to the roof. He took a deep breath as contemplated the events of last night.

'Kami I'm an idiot,' he thought to himself, not for the first time. Last night it had all been so cut and dry. He would goad Akane into a fight, and then everything would be back to normal. Obviously this hadn't worked though. Instead Akane seemed to get more depressed then he had ever seen her, and this included the time that she had given him to Nabiki.

He had even risked his life to go to the dojo and apologize. For the first time in two years of living and fighting with her he saw that she had run out of bricks to break. 'That has never happened before,' he mused. The sight had caused a sinking in his heart that hadn't gone away yet. Then he heard what she said, "Maybe I should take Shampoo up on her offer." She was considering getting rid of him because he was an ass!

Ranma was so lost in his thoughts, that he didn't hear Ukyo approach and set up her portable grill right behind him. It wasn't until he sensed something flying towards his head that he snapped out of his thoughts. Deftly he caught the okinomiyaki, and turned around to see Ukyo, smirking at him.

"Here ya go sug," she said, starting on her lunch.

"Uh, thanks," he muttered, a little unbalanced by the fact that she had been able to sneak up on him. "Itadakemasu!" he said as he practically inhaled the food.

"So Sug." Ukyo started, "I've been thinking about what we talked about yesterday and I think I might know what's going on."

"But you said that Akane was just trying to be nice!" Ranma said, beginning to panic. 'If someone else thought there was something wrong, then that meant that there really was something wrong!'

"And I meant that then, but I've been thinking, and what if her malleting you was her way of flirting?"

Ranma got a confused look on his face. "Flirting?" he asked incredulously. "Akane doesn't flirt." 'That's what I like about her.'

"How do you know?" Ukyo demanded crossly.

"Because…" 'Gotta think of something she'll believe, "She wouldn't know how to." He finished lamely. 'Can't let her know that Akane doesn't need to flirt. She'd kill her.'

"Maybe. Maybe the mallet is her attempt to flirt. I mean you were the only one she malleted. Until yesterday that is," Ukyo finished slyly.

"Bu…But Akane wouldn't do that!" His mind was filling with doubts though. 'She never malleted Ryouga or Kuno before, just kicked them around. Maybe Ukyo's right, and I blew it!'

Furikan High 12:30PM Ukyo's P.O.V.-

'Mwahahahahahahaha! I win!'

Furikan High 1:00PM Akane's P.O.V.-

Akane was no loner angry with Ranma. After she had said that about Shampoo's deal, she realized how ridiculous it was. 'Mousse is nice and all, but he's no Ranma.' She had had a little chuckle over the thought at the time, and had almost immediately felt better. 'Guess all I needed was a good laugh.'

She had looked for Ranma at lunch, but figured that he probably went to the roof to think. Due to past experience she knew that the roof was no place for her to be when Ranma wanted to think. All it did was make her angry to go up there after him, of a little scared for him, considering all the traps that had been set up for them all over the school. She still didn't like going into the gymnasium because of the cat pit that Gosunkugi had set up (using the manga for the story, not the anime).

When Ranma had gotten back to the room, Akane sent him one of her true smiles. One of the ones that felt right when she did it. One of the smiles that usually end up with her and Ranma almost kissing.

Ranma looked like he wanted to come over to her desk, but just then Hinako sensei walked into the room. Ranma sat down quickly in his desk and Akane whipped her head around. 'Don't want to be drained today,' Akane thought, she was in too good of a mood. Ranma hadn't been annoying and she had felt absolutely no urge to use the mallet all day. 'I can do five more days like this,' she though inadvertently jinxing herself. Had she grown up in America instead of Japan, she would have know to start knocking on wood and throwing salt over her shoulder. Instead she didn't know that she had done anything wrong.

Furikan High 3:00PM Mousse's P.O.V.-

'So far, the plan is working perfectly. Shampoo thinks that I've finally moved on, and right now is happy. But just wait until I'm not fawning over her. Then she'll start to miss me. Plus by doing this I'm making Saotome concentrate of Akane Tendo instead of my Shampoo.' He chuckled a little as he watched the students shuffle out of the building.

He didn't see his "love," but that's because he wasn't wearing his glasses. 'Oh well, someone will direct me to her.' He thought as he launched himself out of the tree, and onto the first body that looked vaguely female.

"Akane Tendo! My love!" He shouted as he wrapped himself around the body.

"What Mousse doing?" Shampoo asked.

'Uh-oh, better play it cool,' "My love! When did you start speaking in broken Japanese?" He asked the Amazon, "And when did you grow your beautiful hair out?"

"Stupid Mousses," Shampoo said, "Shampoo no Violent Kitchen Wrecker!" and with that declaration she threw him down and walked over him to get to Ranma.

'Love hurts,' he thought to himself as he pulled himself up and launched himself at a telephone pole. "Akane Tendo! My love!"

"Maybe you should put your glasses on," a voice said from behind him. He did so and turned around to face Kuonji san.

"Oh, hello. Have you seen my love?" he asked her politely.

"She's with her fiancé," she replied pointing to where Akane and Ranma stood.

"Saotome! I won't allow you to have Akane Tendo!" He shouted dramatically.

He saw Akane's eyes widen as he came hurtling toward the pig tailed martial artist. Suddenly she was gone from his sight as Ranma pushed her out of the way, mostly because Mousse had sent out several chains ahead of him. 'Good,' Mousse thought as began battling Ranma.

It was a short scuffle, that ended up predictably with Ranma winning and Mousses being punted back to the Nekohaten, just in time to start making deliveries for the old mummy.

'Everything is going according to plan,' he thought to himself as he dusted himself off and looked at the address on the delivery box. 'The Tendo residence eh?'


	6. Chapter 6

YAY! Chapter six is up, with a chapter six disclaimer to go with it. Isn't that great? Well enjoy D

Nekohaten 5:00PM Shampoo's P.O.V.-

'Stupid Kitchen Wrecker,' Shampoo thought acidicly as she smiled at a costumer who had just walked in. 'Why she have to tell Airen about the trade? She ruin Shampoo's plan.'

That afternoon Shampoo had gone to meet Ranma after school. Of course she had meant to make it look like an accident, by bumping into him rather forcefully. This caused her to fall flat on her butt, which made her a little testy.

When Ranma had reached down to help her up, her first instinct was to accept his help, and then embrace him to show him how much she loved him. She fought this instinct off so she could instigate her plan. So, instead she acted like the Kitchen Wrecker would.

"Why you run into Shampoo?" she demanded as she slapped his hand away. She expected him to look concerned, which he did, 'so far so good,' she thought smugly.

"Sorry about that Shampoo," Airen said smiling cutely and scratching at the back of his head, "I didn't see you there."

"Well, next time look where going, Stupid Ranma," she said angrily. She expected him to immediately try to placate her wrath, like he does with Kitchen Wrecker. Instead he just shrugged and walked away.

"Hey Shampoo," Akane greeted, from behind Shampoo.

"Why Airen acting so weird?" Shampoo demanded.

Akane just shrugged, "Ranma's always acting weird."

Shampoo looked at Akane slyly. "You think of Shampoo's offer?"

Akane's eyes widened, and then she started laughing, "You were serious? I thought it was a joke!"

"No. No," Shampoo assured, "You give Shampoo Airen and Shampoo give you Stupid Duck Boy." Shampoo started nodding earnestly.

"Man," Akane said to herself, "Ranma was right. That's a first."

"Huh?"

"Huh? Oh, he said that you were trying to make him jealous, so that he would declare his love for you, like with that reversing pin," Akane said absentmindedly. "Gotta go Shampoo. See you later."

Shampoo had glared after the shorthaired girl, as she made her way towards Airen. It was because she was glaring, that she saw Ranma push Akane. This sight made her heart rise in hope, until she saw Mousse hurtling towards the two.

"Saotome! I won't allow you to have Akane Tendo!" he had shouted, right before he was sent flying back to the Nekohaten.

'Good,' Shampoo thought to herself, 'Stupid Duck Boy move on and leave Shampoo alone.' Then she returned to glaring at Violent Kitchen Wrecker as Airen helped her back up.

Shampoo took the customers order and went back to the kitchen to give it to Great Grandmother. She was handing a delivery to Stupid Duck Boy, and ordering to the Tendo residence.

'Great Grandmother always give those to Shampoo,' Shampoo thought suspiciously.

"Great Grandmother," Shampoo started respectfully, "Why you give that order to Mousse?"

"Kasumi ordered ramen," she started, "and requested that the walls stay intact during the delivery. Mousse uses the door properly, not breaking every wall in an attempt to reach Son-in-Law."

Shampoo nodded slowly. She was quite aware of what doors were for, but it was always easier to just knock down a pesky wall. She didn't understand why people kept fixing them though. Shampoo would just show up again and knock it down. This would also offer her a chance to revamp her plan. 'Soon Airen and Shampoo go back to China,' she thought not for the first time, but hopefully for one of the last times.

Tendo residence 5:15 PM Akane's P.O.V.-

Akane lifted the ice off her knee. When Ranma had pushed her out of the way, she had skinned it pretty badly. It wouldn't have been so bad, except for the fact that a piece of gravel had embedded itself into the wound.

She had managed to walk about two blocks, limping the whole way there and taking her time. Finally Ranma had jumped off the fence and picked her up, placing her on his back. That would have been nice, if he had managed to keep is big mouth shut while doing it.

"Geeze Tomboy," he sighed exasperated, "You're even slower then usual. It'll take us ages to get home at this pace."

Akane glared at him, her knee hurt, she didn't need this, "No one said that you had to walk me home. I'm perfectly capable of walking by myself," she huffed as she stared purposely forward.

"As if. The second I turn my back you'll just get yourself kidnapped and we wont find out about it until they send you back for being such an uncute tomboy," he scoffed as he hopped off the fence and picked her up.

Akane was breathing deeply through clenched teeth, but the warmth of his back was starting to sooth her. It was really sweet of him to do this for her. So she decided to say so.

"Thank you Ranma, she whispered into his ear. Can't let the neighborhood know that he wasn't always a jerk.

"No problem," he said, then did a little half laugh, "I've been getting' a lot of experience luggin' you around."

Akane laughed a little at this, 'It's true, he does end up carrying me around a lot.'

"Besides, it's good exercise," he continued oblivious to the thin ice that he had just walked on, "You're heavy enough even a short walk home is stamina training."

"Ranma!" she shouted, in his ear.

"OW! Why'd you have to do that?" he shouted back, in Akane's ear.

"You're such a jerk," she growled, wanting to pummel him into a puddle. Just two things stopped her. One, he was carrying her and two, she had promised Kasumi.

"It ain't my fault that you're built like all those bricks you break," and he laughed at his wit.

Akane didn't say anything. Normally, even though he was carrying her, she would mallet him, but she promised and she always keeps her word. Besides, now that she wasn't smacking him, she felt that sometimes it was detrimental to mallet him. Now is a perfect example of when she shouldn't hit him, on a fence post while he was carrying her.

They had gotten back home and Ranma had carried her into the living room, causing Kasumi to gasp.

"Akane! What happened?" she asked staring at her skirt. Akane followed her gaze and saw blood.

"I just fell down and skinned my knee," Akane assured her sister. Kasumi ignored her and shoved Akane's skirt above her knee. Causing her to blush, because Ranma was still in the room and staring at her knee.

'Why am I blushing?' she asked herself, 'It's not like he's never seen my knees before.' He had seen more then her knees, but she was blushing enough as it is without remembering the most recent incident in the furo.

"We'll need to get this cleaned out. Ranma, could you carry Akane into the furo?" she requested, causing the two teenagers to blush.

And that is how Akane found herself sitting in the living room, holding an ice pack to her knee. She had to borrow some shorts from her sister, because none of her outfits ended above her knee. 'It's winter, who needs to freeze just to show off their knees?' she thought to herself, felling a little exposed.

It didn't help that Ranma was giving her weird looks whenever he thought she wasn't looking. He looked like he was trying to figure her out, but wasn't sure where to start.

There was a knock at the door, and a voice called out, "Hello! Delivery!"

"I ordered some ramen from the Nekohaten," Kasumi explained as she went to retrieve the food. Akane started tensing, expecting a busty Amazon to appear out of nowhere and wrap herself around Ranma. She relaxed a little when she realized that the voice was too masculine to be Shampoo's.

Mousse sauntered into the living room, following Kasumi closely. He was wearing his glasses, to prevent injuries, and carrying the food in. He set it down safely, then wrapped himself around Akane, "Akane Tendo! My love!"

Akane's eyes widened and her cheeks turned a painful red color.

Mousse's P.O.V.-

'Hmmm…' he thought to himself. 'I can feel why Saotome likes her. Not as curvy as Shampoo, but nice.' This was the second time he had wrapped himself completely around the Tendo girl, but really the first time that he had the opportunity to analyze her body.

"Let me go Mousse!" she shouted, her arms immobilized by his grip.

"Anything for you my love!" he gushed, feeling slightly guilty for liking the charade. He released her, and backed up just far enough, so that even without his glasses he would be able to see her clearly.

"What's the big idea grabbin' Akane like that?" Ranma demanded.

Mousse turned his gaze to Ranma and sneered at him. "I thought she could use some comfort after you callously threw her to the ground this afternoon," he explained, as if to a child.

"You pushed Akane?" Kasumi asked, eyes wide.

"I thought I told you not to hit girls!" Mr. Saotome shouted, smacking Ranma on the head.

"WAHHHH!!!" Mr. Tendo cried, "Akane's fiancé is abusive!"

Akane had turned an even deeper shade of red. "It's not like that!" she shouted.

"Oh?" Nabiki asked slyly, "Does that mean you like being pushed around by Ranma?"

"WHAT?" Akane demanded.

"Hey!" Ranma shouted, "I didn't want to push her, I had to get her out of the way! She could have been hurt!"

"And she was!" Mousse shouted triumphantly. 'Saotome is just digging himself into a grave.'

"Only because you attacked us!" Ranma shouted, "If you hadn't done that then none of this would have happened!"

'Oh yeah,' Mousse thought guiltily, "I had to get you away from my love!" he rallied, turning his gaze back to Akane and wrapping her in his arms and closing his eyes in rapture.

He could hear a grinding sound emanating from Akane. He also felt a heat around her body that wasn't there before.

"Kasumi?" she said, extra sweetly, "Could you please open the sliding doors to the yard?" Mousse heard a rustling from Kasumi, and his eyes snapped open in desperation. 'So that's what eminent death feels like,' he mused as he braced for pain.

It wasn't as bad as the last time. 'So this is why Ranma can take so many hits,' he thought as he went flying through the doors and into the outer wall. There was a Mousse shaped indent in the wall as she slid limply down the wall.

Ranma's P.O.V.-

He watched in horror as Akane's teeth ground together, and her aura flared around her. He shook his head slightly to clear his mind. 'This can't be her mating ritual,' he thought to himself stubbornly. 'Akane doesn't flirt.'

He pushed the thought of her and Mousse as a couple aside, and concentrated on how she pulled that mallet out of nowhere. He needed to use every opportunity to figure out how she did it.

When Ranma saw the indent that Mousse had created, he couldn't help wincing in sympathy. 'I know how that feels,'

"Akane you promised," he heard Kasumi admonish.

"I didn't make any promise about Mousse," Akane denied heatedly.

"But you promised not to use it," Kasumi argued.

"Only on Ranma. I made no promise about other perverts," 'Did she sound guilty?' Ranma wondered.

Kasumi just sighed, and got about to setting up dinner. "Mousse can collect the bowls when he wakes up," she stated serenely.

'What's going on?' Ranma wondered, 'Does this have anything to do with why the Tomboy is flirting with Mousse?' Totally forgetting that he knows she doesn't flirt.


	7. Chapter 7

Don't own Ranma, but hope you enjoy the story anyway.

Tendo residence 6:00AM Akane's P.O.V.-

It was the third morning of her promise to Kasumi and Akane found it hard not to summon the mallet and slam the first moving object that came her way. There was no one particular reason that she grumpy.

After Mousses had woken up and collected the bowls, the evening had been oddly quiet and soothing. In fact the only disturbance had been when Ryouga had showed up right before Mousse had left and challenged him to a fight.

"Mousse!" he shouted and then seemed to run out of steam, "… What's your last name?"

"Amazons don't have last names," Mousse explained.

"Weird," Ryouga said philosophically, nodding to himself before he shook his head and flared his battle aura, "Mouse the Amazon! Prepare to die!" He lunged at Mousse and would have continued the fight, if Kasumi hadn't intervened.

"Could you please take this outside?" she requested quietly. Both martial artists had paused in their fight, midair, causing gravity to work and Akane to giggle at the expressions on their faces. Then they got up off the floor, dusted themselves off, and left the house. The sounds of their fight started up almost immediately but slowly began to fade.

Several hours later P-Chan appeared, looking a little bruised and battered. Akane had promptly scooped him up and cuddled him, kissing his snout to make him feel better. Then she set him down and hobbled into the kitchen to get some warm water to give him a bath, and when she returned he was gone.

"Ranma," she started worriedly, "Have you seen P-Chan?"

"Nope," he stated, not moving his eyes from the television. A sure sign that he was telling the truth. If he had seen him, Ranma would have avoided the question and probably tried to start a fight.

'Honestly,' she thought exasperatedly to herself, 'Why can't those two get along?' Then she had gone to bed and had weird dreams about P-Chan turning into a man. 'Weird.'

She flung her legs over the side of the bed, wincing as the cold air of the room met her warm feet. She stood up, making sure to favor her injured knee, and got dressed for a light jog.

As she made her way to the front door, she was almost relieved that she heard Ranma and his father sparring in the yard. She had almost made it to the front gate, when she heard a splash and then running feet, getting closer to her.

"Hey Akane! Wait up!" The familiar voice of her fiancé drifted over to her.

"Hey Ranma," Akane said over her shoulder, not bothering to slow down. If she did she would be walking, which would completely negate the point of her morning jogs.

There was a long, awkward silence as the two jogged along the street. Akane knew that Ranma could be going faster, and probably wanted to, but the fact that he wasn't voicing his complaints was kind of sweet. It was also kind of uncharacteristic for him.

Ranma's P.O.V.-

'It's been a while sense I did this,' Ranma thought as slowed his pace down so Akane could keep up. It was much slower then he was used to, but it was also gentle. Sometimes he forgot that right after he defeated Pops, was the one time of the day that his other fiancés didn't interrupt.

Of course normally he was regaining his manhood after sparring with his father, but today he was lucky, and hadn't grown a D cup. 'Good thing Pops was too slow with the water bucket before Akane showed up.'

"So, today's a half day right?" he started out casually.

"Yep," Akane said, "It's a Saturday. Every Saturday is a half day." 'She sounds like she's trying not to laugh,' he thought, blushing in embarrassment.

"Oh yeah," he muttered. But then he rallied, "So what are your plans for today?"

"Well," Akane started, "I was going to see about helping Kasumi make lunch when we got back."

Ranma could feel his eyes widen in fright. 'Gah!' He thought eloquently.

"But then I decided that I should just wait until dinner, and see if she'd let me make that curry recipe. You know, the only edible thing that I can make?" She was definitely laughing now.

Ranma relaxed a little at this. "It is pretty edible," he said, in fact it was more then edible. It wasn't quite up to Kasumi's cooking, but it was pretty good.

"I figured I could specialize in curry," she laughed.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, all your other fiancés specialize in food. Either ramen, okinomiyaki, or poison."

"I know your cooking is bad, but you shouldn't call it poison," Ranma teased.

Akane got a little redder then usual. "I meant Kodachi!" she shouted.

Kodachi's P.O.V.-

"Achooo," the crazy gymnast sneezed.


	8. Chapter 8

I still don't own Ranm1/2 or any of the characters. That asside, enjoy the story. D

1:00PM Tendo Residence Kasumi's P.O.V.-

Kasumi put the finishing touches on the western style-wedding gown that Akane wore. It suited her just a little better then the traditional kimono that Father made her try on a few weeks ago. Although she had also looked beautiful in that wedding gown as well.

After Akane and Ranma returned from school, Mr. Saotome and Father had grabbed Ranma, and Kasumi had grabbed Akane. Father and Mr. Saotome had been planning this sense they had returned from Jusenkyo, and decided that today would be the best day to put it into action.

Kasumi sighed to herself, only slightly jealous that her baby sister was getting married before her. 'She looks so happy,' Kasumi thought as Akane twirled in front of the full-length mirror they had set up.

Father walked in just then, and stood in front of the door, looking like he was about to cry. "My baby looks so beautiful," he gushed to no one in particular. There was an embarrassed silence as they waited for him to compose himself.

Father cleared his throat, "Akane, I know that you think that this is like the last time that we dressed you in a wedding gown, but the guide from Jusenkyo sent a bottle of water from the Spring of Drowned Man. If you marry Ranma today, Saotome and I will give it to you as a wedding present," Father said, trying to sound sly, but failing miserably.

Akane's face clouded up momentarily. "How do I know that Mr. Saotome hasn't already used it on himself?" She demanded angrily.

Father sighed, "I gave it to Nabiki for safe keeping until the ceremony started."

"Has Ranma agreed to this?" Kasumi thought that Akane sounded hopeful.

"Saotome is taking care of that," Father explained.

After some thought Akane nodded and Father left.

Kasumi never liked questioning other people's decisions, but she wanted to make certain that her sister would be happy, "Are you sure about this?" Kasumi whispered.

Akane smiled at her, the smile that Kasumi knew meant that she was really happy. The one that looked like Mothers, "I'm sure Neechan," she said.

Kasumi just nodded. She probably would have continued questioning her sister, but Ranma had burst into the room, and upon catching sight of Akane, froze. Kasumi excused herself quietly to leave the two some time alone.

She walked into the dojo, to check on the decorations. All the paper was in place, there were seats for all the guests, who of course would include all of Ranma and Akane's friends, Nabiki had promised to take care of the invitations, and the family. There were already presents on the gift table, one of which included the water for Ranma.

Everything was going to go off without a hitch.

2:00 PM Tendo dojo Akane's P.O.V-

Akane stared at the aftermath, feeling a sinking in her stomach. 'Nothing's ever going to change,' she thought brokenly, 'Ranma'll be nicer, I'll stop malleting him, and it won't do any good, because his fiancés will always get in the way.' She would have cried, but she couldn't. She couldn't gather the energy to cry.

She turned her attention to Kasumi, who looked serene as usual, but not happy. Normally she looked like her world was filled with butterflies and rainbows and nothing bad could ever happen. Right now it looked as if people had squished her butterflies and a thunderstorm had started.

'I'm sorry Neechan,' Akane thought to herself. 'I kept my promise and didn't use the mallet, on anyone, but the walls were still ruined.' She made her way over to her older sister, wanting to do something, but not sure what or how.

When she reached Kasumi, she wrapped her arms loosely around her. It had been a while sense she had had any contact with someone not trying to kill her, save her, or grope her, so at first she felt awkward. But as she embraced her older sister, who looked like she was about to shatter, her knees felt week and she leaned into the embrace.

"I'm sorry Neechan," she whispered into her sister's neck, "Your surprise was ruined."

Kasumi giggled, "That's okay Akane. You shouldn't feel sorry about the walls. Your wedding was just ruined."

Akane's eyes stung at the news. She knew her wedding had been ruined, but hearing about it caused the tears that wouldn't come earlier to stream down her face. She valiantly tried to hold them back, and with a watery chuckle she replied, " I guess next time we'll just have to reinforce the walls before we send out the invitations."

The two sisters stayed like that for a long time before they finally had the strength to separate and start the long and arduous clean up process. That evening they ordered out, but not from Ucchans or The Nekohaten. Then everybody went into their rooms, and if they didn't sleep, they at least pretended to until the next morning.

At first Akane couldn't sleep, her mind was racing with all the events from that day. First, there had been a pop quiz in math that she was worried about not doing well on. Then when she gets home, instead of getting to work on dinner she got fitted for a dress, which wasn't so bad actually. But then she was promised a wedding, and had her hopes up only to have them dashed down by the people she had tentatively began to see as friendly rivals if not actually friends.

Her house was ruined and her future even more unsure then usual. She sighed heavily and turned over in bed.

'I guess the only thing to do now is keep my promise to Kasumi,' she thought to herself, 'I've never broken a promise before, and I'm not going to start just because my "friends" decided to trash the place. Besides, after today I can last four more days easy."

Those were her last thoughts as she drifted into an uneasy sleep. She dreamed of being attacked by Bridezilla and her Groomsmen of Doom.


	9. Chapter 9

There were a few questions about the last chapter. Last chapter was the wedding scene from the end of the series, I've always felt that that is what cemented Akane and Ranma's relationship.

Here's the disclaimer: I don't own Ranma 1/2 or any of the characters. Enjoy.

Nekohaten 10:00AM Shampoo's P.O.V.-

Shampoo was annoyed with herself. 'Obstacles for killing and Violent Kitchen Wrecker is obstacle,' she thought angrily as she added spices to the broth she was stirring.

Shampoo had had the perfect opportunity to kill her yesterday, when she saved Airen from having to marry Akane. Unfortunately Mousse had gotten in the way. He had somehow gotten in between the two and taken the blow that was meant for Akane. On Akane the blow would have been fatal, on Mousse it just caused a large bruise to form on his chest.

'Stupid Mousse,' Shampoo thought darkly, 'Always getting in Shampoo's way.' She sprinkled in some herbs and added the noodles. When the noodles finished she deftly deposited the soup into four bowls and prepared them for delivery.

Shampoo would probably be over at the Tendo residence today, but Great Grandmother was on a mission and couldn't watch the shop while Shampoo went courting. So, Shampoo was making the ramen, and giving it to the customers while Mousse handled greeting the customers and deliveries.

"Duck Boy," she shouted to Mousse, "Have delivery for you."

"Ah, thank you Shampoo," he said politely as he took the ramen and left to make the delivery.

'Good,' Shampoo grinned, 'Mousse no call Shampoo his love. Now he no get in way when I go court Airen.' At that thought she heard the bell, letting her know that customers had come in.

Streets of Nerima 10:00AM Mousse's P.O.V.-

As Mouse pedaled furiously through the streets, his thoughts floated around the events of yesterday. He felt both elated and dejected by what happened.

Elated because for once Saotome suffered defeat at his hands. 'There is no way that Saotome is going to get a cure before I do,' he thought darkly as he deftly dodged a telephone pole that jumped out of no where. Dejected because yesterday had been the end of a fun chase. Yesterday marked the day that everyone was going to get serious and if you didn't accept that, you were going to get hurt.

'Shampoo nearly killed Akanechan!' he mind screamed. He braked hard, nearly sending the ramen sloshing all around the delivery box.

"Akane CHAN?!?" he shouted, not realizing that he had shouted until he noticed the stares of several passer byers. He quickly resumed pedaling in the hopes that no one would notice how red his face had turned.

'I do not love Akane Tendo,' he thought furiously to himself, 'It's only an act so that I can win my love Shampoo,' but there was a hollow feeling in his heart at the thought.

Tendo Residence 10:00AM Ranma's P.O.V.-

Ranma was pushing big piles of rubbish from point A to point B with a broom. He had been working for three hours strait, skipping breakfast and a break that the rest of the family had taken.

Long ago he had taken off his shirt and was now working in his sweat soaked undershirt. He paused to whip that off and wipe sweat out of his eyes, then immediately got back to work. He was thirsty and his stomach was rumbling like he had eaten for weeks. If it weren't for the training trip that his father had taken him on 10 years ago, he would probably be feeling a little dizzy now, maybe even feel the need to sit down and put his head between his knees.

"Ranma," Akane called, shaking Ranma from his non-existent thoughts. He had purposely been trying to keep his mind blank.

"What?"

"You need to take a break," in one hand she was carrying a tray with a glass of water and irregularly cut apple slices. In the other she was carrying a kettle that he assumed had warm water in it.

"I don't need a break," he pouted.

"Yes you do," she countered, " Kasumi even gave me permission to throw cold water on you and do my Kuno call if you don't."

"You wouldn't dare," he said, without much conviction. There was a glint in her eye that said she wasn't joking.

Akane just shrugged, "Nabiki did mention that she would like to talk with him."

Ranma sat down and watched his fiancé with trepidation. She set the trey on the ground in front of him and then sat down herself. Gingerly he picks up an apple slice and sniffs at it.

'Smells like apple,' he thought.

"I just cleaned the apple with water, then cut it," Akane assured him, looking a little annoyed.

Ranma popped the slice into his mouth and chewed cautiously. Then he swallowed. "Can you blame me Akane? After all this ain't curry."

She didn't respond. After a while, Ranma just shrugged and started eating. They sat in silence until Ranma swallowed the last piece of apple, and drank the last drop of water. He had been hungrier then he thought, and was very grateful for the snack.

"So why did it take a threat with Kuno to get you to take a break?" Akane demanded.

Ranma shrugged. "I guess I just wanted to get the clean up done as soon as possible."

Akane nodded at this, then stood up. "In two hours lunch will be served. If you don't come in for that Kasumi has given me permission to drag out my Halloween costume from three years ago."

Ranma was confused. "Why is that a threat?"

"Well you'll just have to see. But I assure you that it will be a purrfect motivator," Akane giggled a little as she left to return the trey to the house.

A chill ran up and down Ranma's spine at the threat. 'Better make sure that I'm at that lunch table,' he thought. He knew he was afraid of cats and not cat costumes, so he wouldn't go into the nekoken, but he always gets a creepy feeling whenever cats are even hinted at.

Akane's P.O.V.-

Even though she was still feeling depressed about how the wedding had gone, it felt nice to be able to tease Ranma. True Kasumi hadn't given her permission to get out her cat costume, but then again she hadn't given her permission to do a "Kuno call" either.

'Ranma wasn't taking a break and nothing but a threat would work,' she thought as she placed the trey on the kitchen counter. 'If he's not going to take care of himself, then someone's gonna have to.'

She returned to the dojo and started sweeping big piles of rubbish from point A to point B. With the whole family working together the mess was cleaned up, leaving the dojo empty looking and much holier then usual.

"We'll get the building materials tomorrow," Daddy assured as everyone went in for lunch.


	10. Chapter 10

I don't own Ranma 1/2 or any of the characters.

Tendo residence 4:00 PM Akane's P.O.V.-

Akane was calming down. It was a slow process, because she didn't really have her usual outlets. The dojo was under construction, so katas were out. There were no bricks and years before she had ever met Ranma, she had promised that she would never cook while angry.

So, she was trying to calm down through meditation. The sawing and hammering wasn't helping her concentration though. After about 15 minutes of trying to empty her mind of all thoughts, she realized that sitting still wasn't working for her. She got into her jogging outfit and decided to run the day off.

It had started when the construction crew arrived. She had just returned from her jog to find her front yard full of ladders, tools, and men who were whistling at her. She had just stuck to a glare in their direction before she went into the house.

Then she had an argument with Ranma. It was a stupid argument and she didn't even remember what it was about. All she remembered was that she had felt like crying after word, she didn't and the feeling passed, but she always hated the feeling of hopelessness she got when she wanted to cry.

The walk to school was actually kind of nice. Ranma had decided to walk on the sidewalk that day, making Akane feel less lonely. He missed getting splashed by the little old lady who washed the sidewalk and Shampoo went sailing by them without even seeing them. Either she was just so used to Ranma walking on the fences that she couldn't even see him doing anything differently, or she was back to ignoring him.

The day that was tentatively starting to look up was soon squashed by The Blue Blunder of Furikan High.

"Akane Tendo! Now that I have freed thee from the foul sorcer Ranma Saotome, I shall allow you to date with me!" He declared when he spotted Akane. He had come bounding up to her, ready to embrace her, when Akane lifted her leg and kicked him in the chin.

"Go away," she growled at him. Normally she would have tried to reason with him, or just sent him flying out of her way, but today, she wanted him to know that he wasn't welcome. No more hinting at it.

Kuno straitened, looking a little disturbed. "But My Tigress…" he stuttered.

"Don't call me that. I am not our "Tigress" and I never will be. Now go away and leave me alone," she never raised her voice. In fact she was using a Tendo technique that she rarely used. She used the "Voice of Immanent Doom for all those who fail to please me" technique. Something that Nabiki had mastered by the third grade.

It was effective, for about an hour. Then Kuno returned with a vengeance spewing nonsense about how he had not done a good enough job. Akane was just about to send him to the hospital for a prolonged stay, when Ranma intervened, just sending Kuno home for the rest of the day.

The worst part of the day had been Ukyo. Ukyo hadn't even tried to talk with Akane or Ranma, but she was smug. The smugness was almost tangible. She could feel it radiating off Ukyo from several rows away, setting her teeth on edge.

By the time the lunch bell rang, Akane wasn't very hungry. Instead her stomach was in knots. She gathered her lunch and headed to the sports field. She thought that maybe she could work some of her frustration off with vigorous exercise, but the boys had the field, playing a game of soccer, and they wouldn't let her play. They hit on her, but that was the extent of their interaction.

She left so that she wouldn't do something mean and vindictive, like pop their precious soccer ball and beat them all into a messy pulpy puddle.

For the rest of the day there was nothing added to the frustration after that, but there was no chance to relieve any of it either. It had just stayed in her body, pulsing, trying to escape, until finally she went running.

This was not a gentle jog around the neighbor hood either. It started out that way, but the further she got from home, the faster she went, until finally she was running full out, trying to out run her life.

Mousse's P.O.V.-

He had been on his way back from a delivery when he saw her. She was wearing shorts and a tank top and jogging shoes, and running as though her life depended on it.

Mousse waited where he was for a few minutes, looking for her pursuers, when he didn't see any, he decided to follow her. It wasn't everyday that he saw Akane running from anything. Running after, that was an everyday occurrence, but Akane Tendo thrived on confrontation, so for her to run meant that something was very wrong.

He ended up pedaling faster then he thought he would have to. Akane was much faster then anyone gave her credit for. Probably because she held herself back. She had probably gotten so used to fighting people who were much weaker then her that she didn't even realize she was doing it, even though she always said that she was going all out.

After about a half an hour, she started slowing down. An hour after that she finally stopped.

"Where am I?" she asked herself.

'Good Question,' Mousse thought right before he announced his presence.

Tendo Residence 6:00PM Ranma's P.O.V.-

Ranma was waiting for a ransom note. Akane had left the house two hours ago and no one had heard from her sense. This was about the time that he would get a challenge letter stating that if he didn't come, something would happen to Akane.

Of course if another hour went by, it would mean that she was either kidnapped for herself, which is a common occurrence and meant that he would have to go out and find her, or that she ran away. The thought that she was lost never crossed his mind. She's not Ryouga.

He would give it another hour before he left the house to look for her. Until then he would just have to sit back and wait, while trying to ignore the knot of tension in his gut that got tighter and tighter as each minute went by.

Vaguely he heard the phone ring, but he was so wrapped up in worrying about Akane that it didn't really register. 'Stupid Tomboy, always getting' kidnapped,' he thought.

"Ranma?" Kasumi knocked. Ranma looked up at the eldest Tendo daughter, "That was Akane on the phone."

"That's weird," Ranma interrupted, "Normally they just send a note. I don't think they've ever used the phone."

Kasumi blinked several times, "Uh…" she rallied well, "She just called to let us know that she's okay and that she's at a nice little restaurant called Tengoku in the Juban district. She would appreciate it if someone could pick her up though, because she's not quite sure how to get home. She also mentioned not to worry too much, because Mousse is with her."

Ranma was out the door and down the street before she finished the last sentence.

Tengoku is a really good bento place in my home town. So if you're ever in Hillsboro Oregon, go there.


	11. Chapter 11

I didn't abandon this story. I just had a case of writer's block. Anyway, thank's to all who have reviewed. I really appreciate all the feedback I've been getting. Keep it comin'.

Before I leave you to enjoy the story, I should probably add that I don't own Ranma 1/2.

Nekohaten 6:00PM Cologne's P.O.V.-

Cologne wasn't worried. Mousse hadn't shown up after making a delivery and had missed over two hours of work. If she had been paying him to begin with she would dock it. No, she wasn't worried, she was annoyed.

''So, he finally gets over Shampoo and finds himself a new love, then shirks his duties to his elder. Some Amazon he turned out to be,' she thought as she stirred the ramen. At least it wasn't too busy, it being a Monday and all.

If Shampoo had noticed his absence, she didn't mention it to Cologne, which was the only thing that made her worry. 'Shampoo is going to be my heir,' she thought to herself, 'she has to start being more perceptive or the other elders will eat her alive.'

Shampoo skipped up to Cologne and smiled as she gave the latest order from a customer and picked up the bowls for another table. Then she skipped back to the table, humming happily to herself.

Cologne shook her head as she watched her great granddaughter gracefully weave her way through the tables. 'So much potential, but so naïve.'

The phone rang, interrupting her thoughts. She glared at it balefully, hoping that it wasn't a request for a delivery. 'Part timer has a lot to answer for,' she thought darkly as she lifted the receiver.

"Mushi mushi," she greeted, "This is the Nekohaten."

"Elder Cologne," Mousse said, "I'm sorry for not returning from my last delivery. But I'm no longer in Nerima. I'm in the Juban district. I shall return as quickly as possible." Before Cologne could question him, he had hung up. Cologne glared at the phone again, and barely resisted the urge to slam it back onto the receiver.

"Great Grandmother?" Shampoo's voice floated up behind her, "Why you so angry with phone?"

"That was Mousse. He's in the Juban district," Cologne snapped.

"Ah," Shampoo said, "Must be on date with violent Kitchen Wrecker." Then she flounced off. Cologne was slightly taken aback by the conclusion that Shampoo had drawn. 'Maybe she's more perceptive then she appears.'

The Streets 6:30PM Ranma's P.O.V.-

He was glad that he knew where he was going. It would be really embarrassing to have to return to the Tendo Dojo after running off like that. Then again everyone would probably understand why he did it.

'Stupid Tomboy,' he thought bitterly, 'always getting' kidnapped.' It did not occur to him that if Mousse were really trying to kidnap Akane he wouldn't have let her use the phone at all. Mousse is and always will be a traditionalist when it comes to ransoms.

It was a long walk from the Tendo dojo to Tengoku's, but Ranma didn't mind. Oddly enough there were no sudden spontaneous downpours as the martial artist strode purposefully down the streets, to rescue his fiancé.

Tengoku 7:00PM Akane's P.O.V.-

Akane had always known that Mousse was funny. She just didn't know that he could be funny on purpose. It had been an hour since she and Mousse had walked into the restaurant, and her sides hurt from laughing so much.

"…So, that's how I figured out that ramen plus ducks don't mix," he finished.

Akane was laughing so hard that she snorted. Suddenly she stopped, covering her mouth with both her hands. She knew that her face was beet red and her eyes were probably twice their normal size.

'I haven't done something like that since way before Ranma arrived!' she thought worriedly. Sure, she laughed with Ranma, but never this hard or this long.

Mousse blinked a few seconds at her, and then burst into laughter. It was contagious, and soon Akane found herself giggling like there was no tomorrow. Soon she placed her head on the table, and started slapping it inefficiently with her hand.

The front door burst open, making bells chime wildly. "Akane!" The familiar voice of her fiancé reached her ears. She made a valiant effort to regain her composure, but lost it when she made eye contact with Mousse.

"Ranma," she gasped out between giggles, "Thanks for coming to get me."

Ranma rushed to her side and knelt down, "Are you alright Akane?"

She heard the worry in his voice, but decided to nod instead of answering, because she didn't want him thinking that she was laughing at him.

"Good," he said, then stood up. "Ready to go home?"

Once again she only trusted herself to nod her answer.

"Saotome!" Mousse shouted suddenly, "You should not treat my love so callously!"

"Sorry dude," Ranma said, "But I just don't feel that way about you." Akane was almost impressed by how quickly Ranma came up with that insult, but then she remembered that he's always been good at insulting people. It was a major part of the Anything Goes Martial Arts technique.

Mousse turned an interesting shade of red as Ranma's meaning sunk in, "I mean, that you should be nicer to my love, Akane Tendo. She has had a stressful day and you being a jerk will only up set her!"

'We were having a perfectly nice conversation and he had to ruin it with his "my love" junk,' Akane thought to herself, 'He didn't do it all this time. Why did he start now?'

"Hey! I don't need advice on how to treat my fiancé by her kidnapper!" Ranma growled.

"Kidnapper?" Mousse questioned.

"Ranma, Mousse didn't kidnap me. We just ended up in the same place," Akane said, placing a hand on his forearm. Whether to gain his attention, or hold him back from wrecking the restaurant she didn't know.

"Well isn't that convenient," Ranma said belligerently. "Just how did he manage that?"

"…" Akane explained, "I don't know really. I started on my jog, and just kept going… When I stopped Mousse was there…"

"Geeze Mousse. Whatcha you doin'? Stalkin' her or somethin'?" Ranma demanded of the Amazon male.

"Ranma! Mousse isn't stalking me. We were both just lost and decided to stay put until someone came to rescue us. And that was what you did," she knew that this would shut him up, or at least keep him from attacking Mousse. "Thank you for coming to get me. Can we go home now?" 'I just got done releasing my stress,' she thought, 'I don't need Ranma coming in and bringing it back by starting a fight with Mousse!'

"No problem Akane," he said turning his attention back to her and flashing her his patented cocky grin, "I'm always going to come to the rescue of _my fiancé_," the last words were directed at Mousse, who glared at the pigtailed boy.

Ranma motioned for her to lead the way, and soon followed her out of the restaurant. Mousse followed.

Ranma's P.O.V.-

He was very annoyed with the blind martial artist. He had just saved Akane, and declared that she was his fiancé. Which means, that since they were on their way home, that he was supposed to have a sweet and touching moment with Akane before the returned to the dojo. He loved those quiet moments they had together before the chaos of Nerima crept back into their lives and they got back to fighting all the time.

'If Mousse weren't here I could probably hold her hand or somethin',' he thought to himself, 'Now I gotta act like she's still in danger, because her "stalker" is with us still.' He continued to think his dark thoughts until they reached the Tendo dojo and Mousse left to go home.

Ranma looked around pensively, expecting to be ambushed at any moment by enemies or friends. When he saw nobody, he relaxed slightly and turned towards Akane. 'Now I can have that sweet quiet moment with her,' he thought as his hand reached out to her face.

"…" He said while blushing. 'I can't think of what to say!' He rallied though, "…" he amended.

Akane seemed to sense his dilemma and made the first move. She leaned her cheek into his cupped palm, and smiled at him. That was as far as they got before he spotted Nabiki and her camera.

Instinct took over and he jumped several feet away from Akane, looking panicked. He started babbling, hopefully incoherently, while the rest of the family popped out of the bushed, shouting about the joining of the houses.


	12. Chapter 12

Ha, I bet you all thought I was dead! But I wasn't, I just had a horible case of writers block. Thanks for all the support I've gotten and all the reviews, you guys rock! No, this isn't the end, but it is coming soon. Anyways, I don't own Ranma the series or the character in any way, shape, or form, which makes me sad. Enjoy.

Tendo residence 6:00AM- Akane's P.O.V.-

The morning after her adventure in the Juuban district, Akane woke up refreshed. She always woke up this way after she had one of those quiet moments with Ranma.

She smiled a secret smile as she got up and donned her jogging clothes. She didn't even try to avoid Ranma on her way out the door, and she was rewarded with a grinning pig tailed martial artist, fairly glowing from his recent victory over his father.

"Good morning!" Akane called cheerfully to her fiancé.

"Morning!" Ranma responded. Just when she thought that he was going to join her for a jog, like he did the other day, he swerved in the opposite direction, waving at her as he disappeared.

Akane couldn't help but smile as she made her way through the neighborhood. It was just such a beautiful day, the sun was shining, and everyone she saw seemed to be in a good mood. She loved mornings like this, possibly because of how rare they were.

She rounded a corner, and saw the first person of the day that wasn't in a good mood. Ryouga was kneeling in front of a maneki neko, holding onto where it's shoulders would be, tears streaming down his cheeks.

"Akane!" he shouted, sounding like he was going through some sort of horrible torture.

"Yes Ryouga?" She asked politely, stopping to see what he wanted. He jumped back, as though she had surprised him, which was odd, because he had just shouted her name.

"I-I-It's r-re-real-really g-g-good t-to s-see y-you," he stuttered out finally.

"It's really good to see you too," she smiled at him and was about to resume her jog when something occurred to her.

Akane was still a little puzzled about why he had been at the attempted wedding the other day. He had probably been invited, but why was he so insistent on getting the water from spring of drowned man?

"Hey Ryouga?" she asked softly.

"Y-yes?" he stuttered out.

"What were you doing at the wedding the other day?" Akane tried to listen to his explanation, but he was stuttering so hard and talking so fast that she couldn't understand a word he was saying. She thought back to that afternoon, and tried to remember what had happened.

"Were… you trying to make sure that Ranma got the water?" she asked, as she remembered that he was fixated on the jug of water.

"Y-Yeah!" Ryouga said, sounding relieved. 'He was probably worried that I'd be angry at him for trying to ruin the wedding.'

"He's really lucky to have such a good friend," she said, giving Ryouga a happy smile. "Are you going to the party this evening?"

"W-what party?" he asked.

"Ranma's birthday party. Kasumi sent out the invitations right after we all returned from China," Akane explained. "You must not have been home since then. Oh well, it's tonight at about 6:00."

"A-Ah."

"Hopefully I'll see you then. And don't tell Ranma, it's a surprise," she said, waving at him as she continued her jog.

Ucchans 6:30 Ukyo's P.O.V.-

Ukyo was trying to sort out her mixed emotions. She was happy, because she had saved Ranchan from a loveless marriage, but she was also apprehensive, because he hadn't come to declare his love for her yet. She thought that after the wedding, possibly a few days later, so that he could help clean up and get all his things in order, that he would rush to her side so that they could run away together. After all, she knew him the longest, and she was the cute one.

Ukyo's eyes glazed over as she imagined exactly what would happen. Ranma would walk up to her, his eyes blazing with his love. He would gently pull her hands to his chest, and look deeply into her eyes. Flowers would defy the law of physics to float along the boarder of the scene. "Ucchan," he would say in that lovely deep voice of his, "I want to be together forever."

Ukyo sighed in anticipated bliss. She closed her eyes to savor the dream, then opened them and started making breakfast for herself and Konatsu. She had just poured the batter when Konatsu entered the room.

He looked very pretty in his pastel pink and blue kimono. His long, gorgeous hair pulled back in an elegant ponytail. There was still a slight flush to his cheeks left over from waking up that made him look just kissable.

'Most guys would give their right nut to be able to see this sight every morning,' Ukyo thought to herself, 'Except for my Ranma-Honey.' She added smugly.

"Good morning Ukyo-sama," he said in his sweet voice, "I hope that you slept well."

"Good morning Konatsu," Ukyo smiled at him, deciding to be in a good mood today. "Here's your breakfast. I need you to sweep and mop the all the floors before the lunch rush, and change the table clothes on the table. Also, if you could, the flowers on the table are beginning to look a little old, could you get some new ones from the florist. I was thinking something more seasonal, like daffodils instead of carnations, but whatever she has available…" Ukyo went on like this for some time. By the time she was finished with her orders her voice was a little sore. Idly she marveled at Konatsu's ability to do all of those things in just one morning and still have energy to look pretty and serve customers. 'How did I run this business, go to school, and still find time to spend with Ranma before he came along?'

"I thought you were going to close the restaurant today in honor of Ranma-sama's birthday?" Konatsu inquired meekly.

"Later this evening. Can't miss the lunch rush," Ukyo explained as she started eating the spectacular okinomiyaki she had just made for their breakfast. "Ranchan's going to love the present I got for him," she added dreamily.

"Of course he is Ukyo-sama," Konatsu agreed enthusiastically. They finished the rest of the meal in silence.

"Well, I'm off," Ukyo said cheerfully as she skipped to school.

Streets of Nerima 7:45AM Ranma's P.O.V.-

Ranma couldn't help but feel the impending doom lurking over him as he walked across along the chain link fence. There was something about today that he knew he didn't like. All he knew was that he had always hated this day. Well, at least since he started that training trip with Pops. Anytime before that was kind of a blur.

'Maybe Akane knows why today is important,' he thought vaguely. It might work, she knew about other days, like Valentine's Day and Christmas and stuff. He eyed his shorthaired housemate. She was positively glowing, which meant that it was probably a good time to ask her about today.

'But what if it'll bum her out?" a tiny little voice in the back of his head popped up. There was nothing worse then making Akane sad. Even making her mad enough to stomp him into a puddle was better then seeing her heart broken.

"Happy birthday Ranma," Akane said, smiling up at him. Ranma nearly tripped, whether it was from the force of her smile or her statement, he didn't know.

"Huh?"

"Happy birthday," she repeated, still sounding happy.

Her words finally sunk in. "So that's what today is," he said in a wondering voice.

"You didn't know?" Akane asked. 'She sounds kinda bummed!' the voice screamed.

"I-I kinda lost track of time while I was trainin' with Pops," he stuttered in explanation. Her face clouded up and he scrambled for a way to make it better, "But since I've been living with you, I've been catching up on that kind of thing. I think that I definitely made up for 10 years of nothing this Valentine's Day."

"So, not only have you not gotten anything for your birthday for the last 10 years, you didn't even know when it took place?" There was something in her voice that told him not to lie about anything.

"Well, about once a year Pops would wake me up b saying, "Boy, do I have a new technique for you. Happy birthday!" before he would start pummeling me. I think he even said that before he started the neko-ken training," he offered thoughtfully.

"You got neko-ken training for your birthday?" she sounded really ticked. Ranma winced and waited for the beating that would ensue. Nothing happened, he peeked down at her, and noticed that she was turning read and breathing heavily, clear signs that he would probably need to visit Dr. Tofu.

"How come he isn't dead yet?" she growled, glaring at Ranma.

"Huh?" Ranma said intelligently. He had rarely seen her mad at other people and was still uncertain of how to respond to it.

"It's bad enough that he tried teaching you that technique, but did he have to disguise it as a birthday present?" Akane muttered more to herself then Ranma.

"Common," he placated, "It's not that bad. He's Pops. It's what he does." Ranma shrugged philosophically.

Akane just glared at him before turning and stomping for the school. She looked way more pissed then he had ever seen her look. Like the next person who she came across would end up a smear on the sidewalk. Being the practical person that he was, Ranma decided to sit back and enjoy the show.

Nekohaten- 8:00 AM- Mousse's P.O.V.-

Mousse was deeply troubled by the progress he was making in his plan. By now Shampoo should be starting to be nicer towards him. Instead she was ignoring him completely, which while was some progress; it wasn't in the direction he wanted.

Mousse has known Shampoo all his life and he knows that there are only two ways for Shampoo to acknowledge you, with pleasure or with pain. If she ignored you that meant that you no longer existed in her world.

If she didn't need something from him, like a clean dish or for him to make a delivery, she didn't even notice when she ran into him. Before, she would kick him and call him "Stupid Duck Boy." He sighed sadly as he pressed the tablecloth in preparation for the lunch rush.

Another thing that was bothering Mousse about his plan was that he didn't care that Shampoo was ignoring him as much as he should have. If she had done this the week before, he would have been sent into a tailspin of depression that would have made the most impressive Shi Shi Hokudan.

Shampoo was still the sexiest girl that he had ever seen, but now he was actually noticing it because he was looking at other girls. 'Like Akane,' he thought, 'Shampoo is much more sexy then her, but Akane is much cuter. Ukyo Kuonji is much more elegant, and even Ranma has a certain female charm that Shampoo is lacking.'

He shook his head quickly and reminded himself that he loved Shampoo. He had loved since the first time he had seen her, and he would love her until the day he died. He started resolutely at the ceiling as he made this promise to himself, tears streaming down his face as he pictured the beautiful day that would be when Shampoo was finally his.

The only thing that ruined the image was when Akane's face stuck in his head, smiling up at him in complete adoration. Mousse checked his classes out of reflex and tried again. "Oh Airen Mousse," Ukyo murmured to him as she cuddled closer, her face flushed with desire. Mousse decided to stop there before he saw Ranma in his female form declaring his undying love for him. 'That would just be way too creepy.'

"Hey Part-time," the dry voice of Cologne came from behind him. Mousse was already braced for the thump on the head that proceeded.

"Yes Elder Cologne?" He asked respectfully.

"Stop day dreaming and get back to work. After you finish pressing the table clothes I need you to fold all the napkins into swans and finish cleaning up all the blue dishes. I changed my mind last night and decided to go with blue instead of green." With that she hopped away.

"Right away you old mummy," Mousse said once he thought she was out of earshot. The feel of staff on his skull proved that he was wrong.

"I heard that," came the indignant cackle of the Amazon elder.


	13. Chapter 13

Sorry, writer's block is a real bitch with this story. Just to let you know, I will be finishing this story, I just don't know when. Thank you for sticking with it for so long, and enjoy.

Tendo residence 6:00 PM- Ukyo's P.O.V.

Ukyo was the first guests to arrive that evening. It was a special occasion, after all Ranchan's birthday only comes once a year, so she had shut down her store early, and put a dress on. Konatsu had allowed her to borrow one of his, and also helped with hair and make-up. It was the first time in 10 years since she had done anything girly, and she had to admit that even though the outfit constricted her movement, she enjoyed being a girl. 'It definitely helps that I know I'm the cute fiancé,' she thought smugly as Kasumi answered the door.

"Hello Ukyo," Kasumi greeted. "I'm glad you were able to make it."

"Thank you for inviting me," Ukyo replied politely as she entered the house and removed her shoes.

"Ranma and Akane haven't gotten back from the store," Kasumi stated. "You're the first to arrive." Ukyo took off her shoes and stood awkwardly with Kasumi. She had never really been in the home without Ranma or Akane there. She wasn't really sure how to act without them.

"Is there anything I can help with?" Ukyo asked politely.

"Oh, I think you've helped quite enough," Kasumi said sweetly. "Why don't you sit in the living room and try to relax?" Ukyo nodded nervously, feeling that Kasumi was annoyed with her for some reason.

Ukyo waited for Ranma and Akane to return, hoping that it would be quick. She was rather anxious to see her Ranchan and give him her present. 'He's sure to realize the girl for him once he sees it,' she thought smuggly, trying to sit in a way that she could be comfortable but still look feminine for when Ranma arrived.

The next to arrive was Mousse and Shampoo. Ukyo didn't know that Shampoo had arrived because she hadn't heard the wall crashing down, so she was surprised when Shampoo sauntered into the room, took one look at her, and sniffed audibly.

The wait for Ranma to come to his own party was getting long. Shampoo was busy alternating between ignoring both herself and Mousse and taking pot shots at Ukyo's choice of dress. Ukyo shot back by explaining that what she was wearing was much better then Shampoo's choice, which made her think of a prostitute. All her clothing was too tight and bright and Ukyo just knew that Ranma would appreciate the outfit that Konatsu had chosen for her above Shampoo's choice. Mousse was far more annoying then Shampoo though. At least Shampoo wasn't bemoaning the fact that Akane wasn't there yet. The longer they waited, the more annoying Mousse became.

"What's the big deal about Akane?" Ukyo finally burst out in annoyance.

"What do you mean?" Mousse asked, staring at her through his thick glasses.

"What is it about Akane that makes everybody want her? She can't cook, she has a very short temper, she not that strong a martial artist, and she can be pretty thick."

"Both around waist and in head," Shampoo snickered. Ukyo joined her.

"I think you two are just jealous that Akane isn't afraid of being herself," Mousse stated calmly above the sound of their giggling. "She's honest and expects the same of everyone else, she's loyal to her friends, and she doesn't back down from a challenge. What's not to love?"

"Yeah right," Ukyo scoffed. "In all that you didn't talk about her looks or deny the fact that she's just a tomboy once you get down to it."

There was an awkward silence following that sentence. The growing suspicion that the person they had just been talking about was creeping up on her. Slowly she turned around, ready to face the horror of Akane's wrath.

Ukyo smiled weakly at the two. Ranma looked coldly into the room, practically through Ukyo, and Akane was starting to show signs of her anger. "Surprise, happy birthday!" Ukyo said, spreading her arms in an attempt to diffuse the situation.

Shampoo's P.O.V.

Shampoo was overjoyed at the turn of events. 'Maybe Spatula Girl be taken out of running,' she thought as she saw Ranma stiffen in anger. 'No one can call Violent Girl that name except Airen. Not even Crazy Girl call her that.'

Shampoo smirked as she saw Violent Girl's face change from smiling and laughing to complete outrage. Her hands fisted and her face went from pleasantly flushed to purple in a second. Shampoo could see her chest rise and fall as she breathed in deeply.

Shampoo quickly positioned her hand within easy reach of her bonbari, so that when Violent Girl attacked Spatula Girl Shampoo could take out the winner and have Airen all to herself. She wanted to giggle at her own cleverness, but that would give her plan away.

"You look very nice tonight Ukyo," Akane gritted out between her teeth instead. The only thing that saved Shampoo from a face vault was the fact that she had to be ever vigilant this evening. "Is that one of Konatsu's outfits?"

Shampoo had only seen the girl that worked in Ukyo's shop from a distance. What she had seen was a pretty girl with excellent taste in clothing and absolutely no self esteem. At first Shampoo had been worried that the girl would try to steal Ranma, but the girl never made a move towards him. Eventually Shampoo lost interest.

"Yes, Konatsu was nice enough to lend me one of his yukatas," Ukyo answered politely. Shampoo didn't really trust her ears when she heard this. The girl she had seen was too pretty to be called male, unlike Ukyo, who Shampoo understood to have been masquerading as a boy for several years.

"Hey, where is Konatsu?" Ranma asked. 'Ranma want Ukyo's waitress?' Shampoo thought jealously, then laughed at herself. 'Of course Airen only want Shampoo. Just too too shy for own good.'

"He's finishing the clean-up of the shop for tomorrow. He'll be here shortly," Ukyo answered. Shampoo lost interest in the conversation because it didn't really involve any of her favorite subjects, such as herself, Airen, or fighting.

Curiously she watched as Mousse made his way to the still angry Akane. He looked like he was about to declare his love for the furious girl, but Akane put a stop to that. "Sit down Mousse," she ordered, shoving a hand in his face. Amazingly Mousse did as he was told. 'Why Shampoo no think of that?' she questioned, remembering all the times she had had to beat Mousse to get him to let go of her.

Akane sat on one side of the table, Mousse immediately sat down on her right. Before Ranma could sit on her other side, Shampoo grabbed his arm and lead him forcefully to the other side of the table. Ukyo grabbed on to his other side and joined them on the other side of the table from Akane.

"Airen open up Shampoo's present now," Shampoo ordered, reaching behind her back for the present.

"We're going to open presents once everyone arrives," Akane said, taking the present from Shampoo and placing it at the end of the table. Ranma looked disappointed, but didn't argue. Shampoo considered pushing the issue.

"Pardon me for intruding Ranma-sama," a meek voice interrupted Shampoo's thoughts. Startled Shampoo looked for the source of the voice. It wasn't in the doorway, or the ceiling, but from directly behind her. There stood a very pretty person, with long flowing hair, in a button up shirt and trousers. "I wanted to wish you a happy birthday."

"No problem Konatsu," Ranma said smiling, "Glad you could make it. And hey, you're wearing guy's clothes."

"This is correct. The thought occurred to me that this is a special occasion, and as such I should dress my physical gender," the boy explained. Shampoo goggled at the boy. 'No wonder Shampoo think him girl. He too too pretty.'

"You look very handsome Konatsu," Akane complemented. "Please join us." Konatsu made his way to the empty spot next to Akane.

"You are too kind Akane-sama," Konatsu murmured.

"Who left?" Shampoo asked, looking at all her rivals.

"Ryouga and Akari aren't here."

"Lost Boy never make it," Shampoo argued.

"We'll wait a little while for Ryouga, Akari said that she would be a little late. I think she wanted to look for Ryouga so they could arrive together, so let's play a game while we wait," Akane suggested.

"What kind of game Sug?" Spatula Girl asked.

"I was thinking a card game, like B.S," Akane answered, producing a deck of cards.

"How do you play B.S.?" Konatsu asked.

"Well, you start by handing out all the cards. Then the person with the two of clubs starts. They say the number of twos they have, then put it down. The person to their left goes next. They say how many threes they have and put them down. All cards go down face down, so you can't see what they are..."

"But then you could be liein' about your cards," Ranma protested.

"Exactly," Akane said grinning. "If you don't have the right cards you still put cards down. If you think someone put the wrong cards down, you say B.S. If you're right, and they put the wrong cards down they have then they take the cards. If you're wrong, you take the cards. To win, you get rid of all your cards," Akane explained.

"What does the B.S. stand for Akane-sama?" Konatsu asked meekly.

Violent Girl blushed delicately, staring pointedly at the ground. Now Shampoo really wanted to know what the letters stood for.

"Um... it stands for bull shit," Akane answered evenly. Konatsu blushed delicately, but nodded in acceptance of the idea. Akane shuffled the cards and passed them out.

They spent the next hour or so playing the game. Ranma ended up loosing, because anyone looking at him could tell when he was lying about the cards he put down. Shampoo thought that she was going to win, because when it came to being crafty, she was the best in the group. Or at least that was true until Mousse stopped trying to win her over. Every time she put a false card down, Mousse called B.S. on her. It was like he was able to read her or something, because he was never wrong. It was really annoying. Konatsu ended up winning the game.

"Shampoo wants rematch," she demanded glaring at the far too beautiful man. "You cheat."

Somewhere 6:00pm Ryouga's P.O.V.-

"Now where am I?" Ryouga demanded, turning his head every which direction in hopes of seeing a familiar land mark, that indicated that he was anywhere near the Tendo dojo. 'Akane invited me to a party,' he thought eagerly, conveniently forgetting that the party was for Ranma.

He'd found the perfect present for her in a little shop near Hokkaido. Or at least he thought it was Hokkaido, he could never be too certain. It was green tea pocky, a letter written in green ink, and a bouquet of flowers. If only he could insure that he would make it to the party before they died.

Tendo Dojo 6:30pm Akane's P.O.V.-

Akane could tell that the evening was going to end up in a fight from the way things were going. The more often Shampoo lost, the more frustrated she became with Konatsu, who continued to win at B.S. Akane's mind was racing with things that they could do to distract the angry amazon, but her mind was drawing a blank.

'If something doesn't happen, then what remaining walls we have will end up looking like swiss cheese,' Akane thought frantically.

"Kasumi made snacks!" she remembered suddenly. "Will you help me get them Konatsu?"

"I'll help you Akane," Ranma offered, sounding almost desperate. 'But how could he be? He had those two bimbos clinging to him like cellophane.'

"No. No, it has to be Konatsu," she assured him.

"Of course Akane-sama," Konatsu said meekly. Standing, then offering her a hand up. Akane took it and the two left for the kitchen.

"Thank you, Akane-sama," Konatsu said when they were in the safety of the kitchen.

"For what?"

"For stopping the situation from getting worse. Ukyo explained to me some of Shampoo's traditions. I would not like to end up married to her."

Akane laughed as she searched in the fridge for the snacks that Kasumi made. "I hadn't thought of that possibility. Maybe you should go back in there and challenge her to a game of Texas Hold 'em."

"I think that I will pass. Let us return before Ukyo-sama and Shampoo tear Ranma-sama in half." At his words there was the sound of an argument about to break out.

"Get your hands of my Ran-chan you hussy!" Ukyo shouted.

"B-but I was just greeting him. I-I was invited to his birthday party," she heard Akari protest, she sounded close to tears.

"Ranma, what did you do?!?" Ryouga's voice came crashing from somewhere up stairs.

"Ryouga-sweetie," she breathed, then Akane heard the sounds of people hitting the ground hard. She laughed at the image of Shampoo and Ukyo lying flat on their face.


	14. Chapter 14

Tendo residence 6:00 PM, Ranma's P.O.V.-

Ranma, for the first time ever, was impatient for Ryouga to show up. Once he did, they could open presents. Once presents were opened, the party would be over and Mousse would leave. The Amazon was beginning to get on Ranma's nerves. Through out the game he had been fawning over Akane, trying to sneak cards out of her hand, and in general making a pest out of himself.

Akane just sat there, acting like nothing was going on. 'How can she be so calm about this?' he asked himself. A part of him worried that she wanted to be with Mousse. 'She has been hitting him with her mallet lately.' Ranma was still unsure of the "malleting is love," theory that Ukyo came up with, but he wasn't about to take any chances.

"Ranchan," Ukyo whispered in his ear, "I'm really sorry about what happened earlier. Can you please stop ignoring me now?"

Ranma's attention turned to his friend, who was clutching his arm in a vice like grip and looking at him with large watery eyes. He hadn't realized that he had been ignoring her. True, he was angry about what she had said about Akane, but he had decided that if Akane didn't do anything about it, neither would he.

"You know, it's not me that you should apologize to," Ranma answered quietly, turning his attention back to his cards. He frowned in concentration, trying to remember what cards he needed to put down next. 'Was it two threes or three twos?' he wondered, both were an option for him.

"I hate it when you're mad at me Ranchan," Ukyo whined quietly.

'Then don't call Akane that,' he thought fiercely. He couldn't say it aloud though. Otherwise World War III would start.

"Shampoo wants rematch!" Shampoo shouted in his ear. "You cheat!" Ranma looked around wildly to see who she was yelling at. Konatsu just smiled serenely as Akane gathered the cards from Ranma's hands and began shuffling again.

Shampoo viciously yanked on Ranma's arm as she they waited for the cards to be dealt. Ranma started tipping towards her, unprepared for the force of the tug. In response Ukyo tugged on his other arm. At first Ranma was thankful, because Ukyo's yank righted him. But then he began to lose feeling in the arm that she held. Ranma tried shifting his arm a little, so that he could get some blood flow to his fingers, but Ukyo just tightened her grip.

During the next card game Shampoo and Ukyo would periodically pull him towards them in an attempt to snuggle. Ranma was becoming very uncomfortable, because Ukyo kept begging him for forgiveness and Shampoo kept complaining about cheating boys as she became more and more frustrated.

He found hope of escape when Akane suddenly jumped up, "Kasumi made snacks!" she practically shouted. 'Now's my chance!' "Will you help me get them Konatsu?"

It didn't matter that it was rude. Ranma needed to get out of this situation. "I'll help you Akane," he practically begged, ineffectively tugging at his arms.

"No. No, it has to be Konatsu," Akane said, smiling brightly at the ninja. Ranma was prepared to beg, but Akane and Konatsu left before any words could get out of his mouth. He barely suppressed his tears as the two girls on either side of him tightened their grips.

"Hello Ranma," a soft voice said from behind him. He felt a hand touch his shoulder to get his attention, although he already knew who it was.

"Get your hands off my Ranchan!" Ukyo shouted, jumping to her feet. Shampoo soon followed suit.

Akari stepped back and raised her hand up in front of herself. "B-but I was greeting him. I-I was invited to his birthday party," she said, sounding close to tears.

There was a crash above them and Ryouga's voice came echoing down the stairs. "Ranma, what did you do?!?" Ranma could hear that he was angry in a way that he never got over Akane. Probably because Akane could take care of herself while Akari was too fragile.

Akari's face went from fearful to ecstatic in seconds. "Ryouga-sweetie," she whispered quietly. It was still loud enough for Ukyo and Shampoo to hear it though, because they both fell forward in shock. Ranma looked up as he heard Akane laugh out loud.

Akari looked up the stairs and called out daintily, "Stay put Ryouga-sweetie. I'll come and get you," before she skipped up the stairs.

Ranma smiled as she left. There was just something so cute about the way P-chan acted when Akari was around. 'Now if only he would give up on Akane...'

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Mousse take the tray that Akane was holding away from her before putting it down gently on the table. He looked like he was going to glomp her again, but Akane put a stop to that before Ranma could.

Ranma watched as Akari lead Ryouga down the stairs while holding a beat up looking bouquet. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Ukyo and Shampoo begin to stir, so he quickly sat down next to Akane, right between her and Mousse. He wasn't jealous, he assured himself, he just needed a break from those two. Mousse glared at him, Akane ignored him, and Ukyo and Shampoo pouted.

"Now that Lost boy and New Girl here, Airen open presents, yes?" Shampoo asked hopefully.

"Oh that's right," Akane said, dropping her fist into her open hand. "You guys haven't met Akari yet. Introduce yourselves," she ordered.

When it looked like no one was going to volunteer, Akane dug her elbow into Ranma's ribs and nodded towards Mousse. Ranma dug his elbow into Mousse's ribs with a little more enthusiasm then was necessary. Mousse cleared his throat, "My name is Mousse. I'm an Amazon from the Jukutsuzoku tribe and master of the Hidden Weapons Technique."

"It's very nice to meet you Mousse. Ryouga-sweetie has told me quite a bit about you."

"All good I hope," Mousse teased. Akari giggled a little.

Konatsu knelt in front of Akari and bowed low. "My name is Konatsu. I am but a humble kunoichi and waitress. It's a honor to make your acquaintance."

"Kunoichi...? But you look like a boy..." Akari spluttered, looking a little shocked.

"I am a boy," he stated quietly.

"...?" Akari asked. She shook her head, then smiled at the still bowing kunoichi. "It's a pleasure to meet you." She gently touched his shoulder, letting him know that it was alright for him to rise from the bow.

"I'm Ukyo Kuonji. Okinomiyaki chef, martial artist, and Ranchan's cute fiance," Ukyo stated proudly. Shampoo rolled her eyes at the last bit of news.

"Fiance? But I thought Akane was Ranma's fiance?" Akari asked.

"That's their parents idea. I'm the one Ranma loves," Ukyo bragged.

"Not true. Airen love Shampoo!" Shampoo shouted. Bringing out her bonbari. Ukyo brandished her large battle spatula, and prepared to battle.

"No fighting!" Akane shouted, "If you do, you will have to leave."

"Violent Girl talk big," Shampoo sneered. "But can't make Shampoo leave."

"You fight, you leave," Akane stated again, looking for all the world like she wasn't being threatened by a very pissed off Amazon warrior. Ranma was really worried. He had no clue how Akane was going to back up her statement. Shampoo was one of the best martial artists in Nerima. She'd cream Akane.

"I didn't mean to cause any fighting," Akari said, obviously worried. "I just wanted to learn more about Ryouga-sweetie's friends."

"It's not your fault," Akane told the girl, smiling sweetly. "They just don't know any better."

"Violent Girl shut mouth or Shampoo shut for you!" Shampoo shouted, lounging towards Akane.

"Close your eyes Ranma," Akane whispered to him. He really didn't want to, but at the same time, Akane doesn't stay calm in these situations unless she has a plan, so he followed her orders. He heard the sound of plastic hitting flesh, then a hissing sound, before there was silence.

"Stupid Violent Girl miss," Shampoo sounded like she was gloating.

"I didn't miss. I just wasn't aiming at you."

"What Stupid Girl talk ab...eow," Shampoo shrieked. Ranma felt a shiver run up his spine at the sound. He knew what it was, even though he couldn't see it.

"Kasumi," Akane called out loudly. "Shampoo is leaving. Can you escort her out?" Ranma felt a gentle had land on his thigh. He jumped a bit at the contact, his nerves already strained. "It's okay Ranma," Akane whispered to him. "It's almost over."

"Don't forget about her present," He heard Nabiki shout from another room. There was the sound of hissing and quiet feet moving around the room, then silence.

"It's safe Saotome," Mousse spat. "The big bad kitty cat is gone."

"Um... how did you hit Shampoo?" Konatsu asked. "Ukyo ended up wet."

"Sorry about that. But I didn't hit Shampoo," Akane said simply. "Akari did."

Everyone turned to Akari in surprise as she held up the water gun, grinning sheepishly. "Akane told me that something like this might happen, and told me to prepare with some cold water. When I saw that a fight was about to break out, I grabbed my water pistol."

"I saw that she had her water pistol and used my own. I'm just glad that Akari has such great aim," Akane said smiling.

Ranma had a million questions flooding through his mind. 'What just happened? When did Akane ever plan anything ahead of time?' and most importantly, 'How annoyed is Shampoo going to be about this?'

"That was smart thinkin' Sug," Ukyo said, smiling at Akane, "But that little trick wont work on me."

"I know," Akane said smiling. "But you have no reason to attack me."

"Why is that?" Ukyo smirked. She made no move to attack Akane, she seemed honestly curious.

"Because Ranma's going to start opening presents," Akane said, placing a box with crumpled wrapping paper on the table. "I wrapped it myself," she said smiling.

One by one everyone set their package down on the table. With each addition Ranma could feel his eyes widen with anticipation. 'Already this is the best birthday ever!' he thought to himself.

Tendo residence, 7:00pm Ukyo's P.O.V.-

Ukyo was the last to put her present on the table. She made sure to place it closest to Ranma and directly between him and Akane's present.

"Go ahead Ranchan," she said sweetly. "Open mine first." 'This is it! Ranma's going love it so much he'll want to marry me on the spot! I'll decline, of course, because I want a big wedding so I can rub it in those other "girls'" faces...' Ukyo was so caught up in her thoughts that she almost missed the moment when Ranma first saw her present.

"Gee thanks Ukyo," Ranma said, holding up a sealed clay jar. "What is it?"

"It's another jar of ten year old sauce that I made when we were children. I made it on the day of your birthday so that we could open it together," Ukyo said brightly. "It was also the day that I found out that we were going to get married."

"Then it's a good thing I wasn't around when you made it," Ranma joked. "Otherwise this one would be as bad as the last one."

Ukyo's smile clouded over as she thought about all the torment she went through shortly after Ranma left. She had just finished sealing the jar when she had heard the yattai rattling away...

Forcefully she brightened it with the thought of the splashy wedding she was going to have. She might even ask Akane to be her maid of honor. 'That'll just prove how perfect I am for Ranma.'

"We can open it after we're done with the presents," Akane said excitedly. "I'm sure it'll taste great."

Everyone made agreeing noises, totally oblivious to the rage Ukyo felt. 'There she goes, trying to get between me and Ranchan,' she thought darkly, staring at her rival and sometimes best friend.

The next present was from Ryouga, which was an unwrapped box of green tea pocky. Ranma smiled ruefully at the madly blushing boy. "Thanks man."

"No problem," Ryouga muttered. Ukyo was actually surprised that Ryouga had even gotten there, let alone brought a present. She had thought that the only thing Ryouga wanted to give Ranma was an early grave.

Konatsu gift was next, although Ukyo was unsure about what he would have gotten Ranma. Ukyo knew exactly how much he was paid, so he couldn't have afforded much. The package was neatly wrapped with a ribbon tied around it. Attached to the ribbon were some bells, that jingled gently as Ranma picked up the small package. Ukyo wanted to gag at the girliness of it, but she restrained herself so as not to hurt Konatsu's feelings. Inside the wrapping was a box and inside the box were two finely crafted kunai.

"Man these are sweet," Ranma started gushing. Ukyo had to stop herself from glaring at her waitress. She also had to stop herself from pounding her fiance into a puddle. 'I get him the perfect gift and this is the thanks I get!?!?!?' "These are perfectly weighted and everything! Common! I wanna try 'em out!" Ranma shouted, getting ready to stand up.

Ukyo couldn't take it any more. She swiftly stood up and slammed her fist onto the top of Ranma's head. "Ungrateful jerk!" she growled through clenched teeth. Suddenly her anger drained away and she realized what she had just done to the love of her life. Also, that everyone was staring at her. "I mean you should open the rest of the presents before you try any of them out," she said, scratching at the back of her head, a large sweat drop forming on her temple.

"Thanks Ucchan, I almost forgot," Ranma said, laughing slightly. Everyone else just shook their heads in bemusement.

"You may open mine next, Saotome," Mousse offered graciously. His package was rather boring compared to Konatsu's or even Ukyo's for that matter. It was just a box wrapped in brown paper. Turned out it was a book of legends from Japan and China. "There's nothing about Jusenkyou, but it may help with some of your wilder adventures."

"Thanks man," Ranma said simply, smiling ruefully. 'Oh well,' Ukyou thought, 'It will be a good book for the kids. He won't be needing it while he's helping at the restaurant.'

Ukyo's eyes narrowed as Ranma picked up Akane's present. She had been so sure that she would win this round, but with Ranma's lack luster response to her heart felt gift and enthusiasm for some knives that weren't any good for anything but fighting, she was a little shaken. Of course this was but a small skirmish in the war for Ran-chan, but she had been loosing ground for a while now and had hoped that she would make her recovery this night. Not that she was giving up! She loved Ran-chan and they were destined to be together.

"You didn't cook it did you?" Ranma asked cautiously as he sniffed at the package.

"Just open it Jerk," Akane said, glaring at him. Slowly Ranma undid the wrapping. Some might have taken it as tenderness, but Ukyo knew better. It was just plain old caution. Whenever Akane had her hand in an arts and crafts project, you never knew what you were going to get.

Ranma reached his hand into the box and pulled out an extremely large mallet. It was quite a bit bigger then the original box. It was an old mallet and pretty well used at that. There were some dents on the surface of it that looked to be the size of someone's head and possibly shoulders as well.

"Huh?" Ranma asked the question that was on everyone's mind.

Akane blushed a little. "This is your mallet," she said as though it explained everything. She must have sensed everyone's confusion because she kept going. "Kasumi gave me this mallet that night you came home under the hugging command, remember? After that, anytime you made me angry or insulted me I used it on you. The more I used it the bigger and stronger it got, but now, I don't think I need it anymore."

Everyone was silent as they thought of her answer. 'What does she mean she won't need it?' Ukyo demanded internally. 'If she thinks that she won this she is sadly mistaken. My present is far superior to that hunk of junk

"Wait, does this mean that I can use the mallet on people?" Ranma asked, eyes lighting up.

"Not that one," Akane said, "If you used that one you might just kill someone. It's too powerful to use against just anybody. But I did provide a new mallet too. I can show you how to use it later, although you will have to be a girl for it to work."

"Why would it kill someone?" Ranma asked, sounding a little in awe.

"Because it's chalk full of Ranma chi," Akane laughed. I figured you could use it if you ever needed a recharge."

"Seriously?" Ranma asked, sounding really excited. "That's so cool!"

"I thought you'd like it," Akane said grinning smugly.

'You may think you've won this round,' Ukyo thought venomously, 'But this is far from over.'


End file.
